


In the Dark

by apollosoyuz



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Comfort, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-13 13:57:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9126784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apollosoyuz/pseuds/apollosoyuz
Summary: Viktor and Yuuri share a hotel room for the first time, but without Makkachin at his side, Viktor's nightmares come back with a vengeancecompanion piece toSleep Soundly





	

Viktor woke sharply in the hotel room and bolted upright, breath coming in sharp, painful gasps. He glanced quickly around, searching the room for whatever could be hiding in the shadows. On the other bed, Yuuri had not stirred and was still sleeping soundly. Good; at least this meant Viktor had not screamed aloud. He felt hot tears burning in his eyes and pressed the heels of his hands against his closed eyes as if to press away the memory of that nightmare. Already, it was fading, but the feeling of terror still remained; cold in his blood and heavy on his chest like steel. And even heavier than that was the shame; choking his throat and squeezing the breath from his lungs. He was a grown man, and this was so childish... but it had been a long time since he had slept without Makkachin beside him, and the dog's warmth helped keep the night terrors at bay. But Makka was back in Japan - he was not here now to lick the tears from Viktor's cheeks; to let Viktor twine his fingers through his soft fur and hold him close and tight.

Without Makka, his bed felt so cold....

He rubbed the tears off his cheeks with the heel of his hand, trying his best to control his breathing, to slow his racing heartbeat, but the darkness around him was so thick, so oppressive.... it was as if the very darkness in the room was smothering all the breath out of his lungs.

"Viktor?" Yuuri whispered, and Viktor cursed quietly in Russian.  
"Did I wake you? Go back to sleep, Yuuri," he tried to make his voice sound steady, but he failed miserably, and his words came out choked and weak.  
"Viktor, are you alright?"  
"I'm fine," he rubbed tears off his cheeks again and sunk down into his bed, trying to calm himself so that he could sleep again, though he knew that after a nightmare like that one, he should just give up. After so many years of this, Viktor knew that sleep would elude him the rest of that night.  
"Viktor, are you crying?"  
As it always does, the accusation only brought more tears to Viktor's eyes, and he squeezed his eyes shut against them, drawing his knees up to his chest and hugging his pillow tightly with both arms. He felt his cheeks burning with the embarrassment of being caught like this.... he should have known better than to stay in the same room as Yuuri, but the hotel had been booked so full of skaters that they had no other choice, and how could he have justified driving all the way to another hotel when there were two beds in the room right here?  
"I'm sorry, Yuuri, I didn't mean to wake you," Viktor breathed into his pillow, "go back to sleep. You need your rest."  
"Are you sure you're okay?" There was such a tenderness in Yuuri's voice - such a kindness that it seemed to reach the cold fear in Viktor's chest and warm it a little, like melting ice; like the hot sun against the winter snow back home in Russia. Yuuri's voice sounded like home.

And then Yuuri rose, his feet padding lightly across the space between their beds, and he sat down beside Viktor, gently wiping a tear from Viktor's cheek with his thumb as if endlessly confused by its meaning - by what it could possibly be doing there on Viktor's skin - Viktor, endlessly confident and afraid of nothing.  
"You're shaking," Yuuri whispered, "are you feeling sick? Are you cold? I can get you another blanket-"  
Viktor shook his head. "No, I-" he took a deep breath and then let it out slowly. "I just had a nightmare. God, that sounds so stupid...."  
"This happens to you often, doesn't it," Yuuri whispered, but it was not a question - and Viktor rubbed his hair back from his forehead before nodding. "Ever since I was a kid. That's why I usually travel with Makkachin, but-" he shook his head. "Go back to sleep, Yuuri. You need your rest."  
"So do you," Yuuri said gently, carefully reaching out to stroke Viktor's hair, and the touch of his fingers felt so good - like how Viktor's mother had combed her fingers through his long hair when he was a child. Viktor rubbed tears from his eyes again and Yuuri drew his hand away, as if afraid that it was his fault - that he had done something unwanted to make Viktor cry. And immediately, Viktor missed the touch with a fierce, burning longing.  
"Is there anything I can do?"  
"God, I'm so childish," Viktor swore angrily through his teeth, "I'm so sorry Yuuri. I shouldn't be like this. I'm your coach-"  
"Would it help if I stayed here with you?"

A silence stretched between them - a shocked silence; a still silence. This was an offer Viktor hadn't even begun to consider, but now that it had been said out loud, there was nothing in the world that he wanted more.  
"Would you?" His voice broke over the words, and in response Yuuri merely slipped under the covers beside Viktor, and his body felt so warm - so safe. Viktor's racing heart had slowed some by now, but it jumped again as Yuuri slipped an arm around him, pulling Viktor's head onto his shoulder. He brushed Viktor's hair back from his eyes again, and Viktor eased down into the curve of Yuuri's body, pressing his cheek against the warmth of Yuuri's shoulder. He was still shaking ever so slightly, but Yuuri pulled him closer, and Viktor slowly slipped his arm over Yuuri's chest.  
"Now go to sleep," Yuuri murmured into his hair, "I've got you now."

And Viktor slept; and for the first time in years, he slept soundly, and without a dream.


End file.
